The Suit Collection
by TheFandomThief
Summary: Kiss him, Liesel, kiss him. Liesel finally gives Rudy his victory. May change rating to M.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is my first ever fanfiction ever posted on ! And what better way to kick it off, then with a Book Thief oneshot?

Sorry if there are some spelling/grammar mistakes! I don't currently have a BETA, and I'm sorta looking for one :) (PM me, if you would like to)

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Book Thief! Markus Zuzak does. I only own the plot of this fanfic :)

(Dialouge is mostly from the book)

THIRTY-FIVE HIMMEL STREET

DECEMBER 24

With the absensce of two fathers, the Steiner's have invited Rosa and Trudy Hubermann, and Liesel. When they arrive, Rudy is still in the process of explaining his clothes. He looks at Liesel and his mouth widens, but only slightly.

The days leading up to Christmas 1942 fell thick and heavy with snow. Liesel occupied her time with reading over the Word Shaker, noticing all the details that Max had put into that gift.

On Christmas Eve, Liesel had made up her mind about her best friend, Rudy Steiner. She had walked over to number thirty-five, Himmel street, just before Mama could pester her about being out to late. She declared she had a present for him.

Rudy studied her with a raised eyebrow. "Well, where the hell is it?"

"Forget it, then."

But Rudy knew. He had seen her like this before. He could practically read her better than anyone else. Apples. Books. Ham... Stealing.

"This gift, you haven't got it yet, have you?"

A FACT

Liesel's answer didn't surprise Rudy. Not at all.

"No."

"And, you're not buying it, either." He said. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Of course not. Do you think I have any money?" Snow fell into Rudy's candelight hair. Ice debris littered the ground in huge chunks. "Do you have the key?"

"The key to what?" But as soon as those words left his mouth, he understood. He quoted Viktor Chemmel with his next words, "Its time to go shopping."

All the natural lighting seemed to have been turned off by a switch, the only source of light was the distant church. It was Christmas, after all. Liesel hurried after Rudys more lanky stride until they stopped.

STEINER-SCHNEIDERMEISTER.

The windows wore their own form of clothes; dust and dirt. And the manequins silently stood silently. So did the shop.

Alex Steiner wouldnt mind Rudy and the girl next door breaking (visiting?) into his shop. Right?

****ONE FACT ABOUT ALEX STEINER****

He would have minded. A lot.

Rudy reached into his pocket, extracting a pair of keys.

The door swung open, becoming the young kids inside out of the miserable cold weather.

"Any candles?"

Rudy was dismayed. "I brought the key. Besides, this was your idea, Saumensch."

Through the dark, Liesel had almost made it to where she wanted to be, then it was as if a bump in the wooden floor had magically appeared. She crashed to the floor, bringing one of the stylish mannequins with her.

"Ouch!"

Limbs were sprawled all over the cold wood floor. The mannequin was completley appart. Two seperate arms, head and torso, and legs. "Get this thing off me!" Liesel dug her way to the surface of the sea of limbs and body parts, before jumping up back on her feet.

"Jesus, Mary."

Rudy tapped her on the shoulder with one of the mannequins arms, causing her to jump out of her skin. He wore that signature smirk and his hair was tousled. "Nice to meet you."

She just rolled her eyes.

A few attempts later of trying to find their way around the tight pathways of this labrynth type shop, Rudy fell over a box, cursing as his ass hit the floor with impact. He recovered quickly than made his way back to the entrance of the shop. "This is ridiculous." he said. "Wait here a minute."

Rudy pushed open the door, venturing out into the cold December air.

Snow crunched under his shoes as he made a beeline for the church. The small brick church stood proud, light echoing out of the windows, smoke pouring out of the chimney. He tapped his knuckles on the grand doorway.

"Herr Traugott, do you have a lamp that I could use to get home? Its awfully dark."

Liesel sat on a wooden crate, tilted to the side. The stiff fingers of a glassy limb drummed a rhythm on the floor. Mannequin arm in hand, she watched as Rudy approached the dark store, carrying a lantern which created a halo around his head.

"So where's the present you've been bragging about? It better not be one of those weird mannequins."

"Light over here, bitte?"

Liesel took the light source out of Rudys hand and inspected the rack of suits. She exaimined many before settling on a navy blue suit that seemed to look the right size for Rudy's lanky body.

Handing him it and pushing him into a makeshift changing room (a curtain on a curved rod, attached to the wall on brackets).

Light from the lantern peeked its way through the cracks in the bottom of the curtain and a shadow dressed itself.

She couldn't help it when her mind drifted back to the thought of Rudys examination...

Verdammt! Its his fault that he had to tell her his stupid story. That dummkopf.

As she was in deep thought (or frustration) Rudy had slipped out of the changing room, with his halo of lightthat reflected off his suit.

" Well?" He asked, expectantly.

Liesel rose to her feet and walked around him, inspecting him like a predator does to its prey. She stopped at his front. "Not bad."

"Not bad! I look better than not bad!"

Liesel smirked. "The shoes let you down." They did indeed. Dirty shoes and a crisp suit did not go well together. But then again, its the middle of WW2, who is judging fashion? "And your face."

Setting the lantern down on a nearby workbench, Rudy feigned annoyance and stomped over to Liesel, before tripping over halfway to her. A laugh escaped both of their mouths.

The sound of Liesel's laugh was like a melody to Rudy's ears. He closed his eyes, savouring the beautiful sound in his mind.

****ONE SAD THOUGHT****

That laugh was Rudys last thought.

Liesel crouched over him, like a standover man. His saphire blue eyes twinkled with mischef, his lemon hair was standing up on his head as if it were pointing to something on the celing.

Liesel had noticed changes in her best friend over the last several months. He had a longer face, his eyes seemed to twinkle all the time and his voice cracked occasionally. Liesel would laugh, but Rudy wouldn't. He had grown more handsomer than he had been before.

Kiss him, Liesel, kiss him.

Her mind taunted he. The sentence was chanted over and over in her mind that she almost sung it aloud. She had known that he wanted to his her still, but he was only teasing. Right?

But, Liesel couldn't hide that she thought of what it would feel like to brush her lips against his. What he would taste like. In fact, these thoughts plauged her mind almost twenty-four-seven.

Before she knew what she was doing, her lips bumped his lips clumsily.

She pulled back to find a wide eyed Rudy.

"Liesel?"

Maybe she was wrong. Maybe he had moved onto another girl. A pretty girl.

"Oi, Saumensch. What was that?"

Tears started to form in the back of her eyes. "I don't know. I'm sorry- I just- I don't know..." She sobbed.

"Nein. Stop crying, dummkopf. Did you just kiss me?"

She wiped her eyes and opened her mouth. "Obviously."

Rudy smiled and sat up. "Then why are you crying?"

She contemplated this herself for a minute or two before answering. "I don't know. I thought that maybe- you don't like me anymore- that you-"

Midsentence, words were stole from the book thiefs mouth, by another thiefs mouth.

Liesel felt as if her stomach was doing saumersaults and her heart was warm. She loved her Saukrel. Her Saukrel.

Rudy brought a hand to the back of Liesel's neck, bringing her closer into him. They couldn't get close enough.

Liesel thought Rudys lips felt like cotton, so soft, like the fabric of suits that his father made. He tasted of stolen money candy, victory and Rudy. Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. That Saukrel.

Rudy thought that Liesel's lips were softer than cotton, and smoother than satin. She tasted of words, books and Liesel. Liesel, Liesel, Liesel. That Saumensch.

****WHAT THEY DIDNT KNOW****

Two angry mothers were looking for their

children. It could have been a

couinsedence that two youth were both missing.

Was it?

They kissed until their lips were swollen and were as red as Frau Dillers candy. They were both grinning maniaclly at each other.

Rudy stood up and offered Liesel a hand. She took it, standing up, brushing the dust off of her coat.

"Frohe Weihnachten." She straightened out his suit for him. "Merry Christmas."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Wow. I never planned on adding another chapter, but thanks to the encouragement of Emily Meminger; here's another chapter :)

Liesel Meminger chewed on a stale piece of bread and quietly ate her pea soup. You could almost hear the house breathing because it was so quiet.

The absence of Hans Huberman made Himmel street feel like Hölle. The piano accordian sat next to Liesel's Mamas bedside, covered in tears, longing and anger.

Liesel missed her Papa dearly, there was no livelyness in the Huberman house any longer. No music. No laughing. No talking.

Just silence.

There was a night when Liesel had heard the sound of sobs from Mama and Papas room with also functioned as the sitting room. She had wanted to hug her Mama, who aways appeared to be a tough woman with a iron fist and a mouth like a Seemann. But sleep betrayed her, and took over her like as if she was being submerged in water.

"Danke, schön. May I see Rudy, Mama? Bitte?" Liesel asked a unresponsive woma who just noddee her head.

"Go on then, Saumensch."

Liesel pulled on a coat before rushing out the door, into the cool December air.

HIMMEL STREET.

HEAVEN STREET.

Except it wasn't heaven. Without Hans Hubermann and Alex Steiner, how could ths street have such a name?

Tommy Müller, Kristina Müller and the infamous Rudy Steiner were racing around the street, passing the old soccer ball back and forth. Back and forth. Rudy spotted Liesel and waved, but at the same time Tommy had tried to take a kick at the ball from under Rudy's feet. Poor Rudy was knocked off balance, into the soft snow.

Liesel rushed over to her best friend and helped him out of the cold blanket of snow.

"Danke, Saumensch." Rudy said to Liesel, nodding before grabbing her hand and towing her away from Tommy Müller and soccer balls. Away from Himmel street. Away from Hölle. Away from the woman who had replaced the woman with the iron fist.

Neither of them spoke as Rudy continued to lead them towards the Amper. Towards 8 Grande Strauss street. Liesel didn't feel like stealing today. Or tomorrow. Or the day after that. She felt like nothing, if she was honest.

Why was Rudy encouraging this? Maybe, he wanted to go onto the Bürgermisters house himself, and steal food from the massive kitchen which had enough food to feed both the Steiner's, the Hubermanns and the Müller's food years. And more years after that.

But Liesel felt a longing deep inside of her to feel the leather, card and paper covers of books. She missed the smell of books that were rusting away with adventure, love, sadness and suspenese. She had forgotten what it felt like to be submerged by words. She forgot what it was like to live.

There once was a girl who had a friend in the shadows...

The pair stopped. Rudy pointed. The library window. It was wide open. "Its open. I think that she left it open on purpose."

Liesel nodded and they approached the window carefully, as if they were on a top secret mission.

But I suppose they were.

Several minutes later, after fumbling, mutters and snark comments about looking up Liesel's skirt as Rudy boosted her up into the window, Liesel's hand wrapped around the ledge and she was face to face with a dozen cookies. She hoisted herself up into the window and whispered to the boy who acted as a guard below.

As she passed them down to him, he stuck some n his pockets. "Just take the plate!" Liesel whispered loudly.

"Anything else? Milk?"

She glared at him. Did she hear him right. "What?" Offense was dripping from her tone the rain did from the sky.

"Milk," He repeated, louder. He could tell that Liesel was offended but asked anyway.

"Are you stupid? Can I steal the book?"

"Of course. All I'm saying is..."

Liesel had disappeaed inside the room and picked a book before anyone came into the room.

She examined it. Die Letze Menschliche Fremde- The Last Human Stranger. The pale contrast of the book matched the soft tone of her skin. Some dust was gathered on it, but she brushed it off and slipped out of the room like a phantom girl. Like a thief.

An imapatient boy stood with his arms holding a platevof stale cookies. His candelight hair stuck out like a match, in the background of white snow. Crumbs were gathered at the edges of his mouth as he smirked, it became obvious that he had eaten some cookies.

"You didn't eat any cookies without me, did you Saukerl?" Liesel asked, tucking the book into her coat and walking beside him.

"Nein, why would you ask such a question?"

She smirked. She wiped the corners of her mouth, even though she had nothing there. Rudy took this as an indication that he indeed had been caught out.

And he indeed, had been.

"Next time, you should really be more discret, dummkopf."

Snow fell like leaves did in autumn. Liesel gazed out the window at the house next door. Number thirty five. The Steiner's.

From the window of Liesel's bedroom, she could see straight into the room of her best friend, Rudy Steiner's. As creepy as that would sound normally, to Liesel, it wasn't.

Rudy. Rudy Steiner.

She touched her lips with her fingers, gently. She often thought about what happened on Christmas eve. He had never brought it up, apart from the ocassional teasing of pig names.

She closed her eyes and remembered what his lips felt like. Soft like cotton. No. They were as soft as the soles of running shoes. And he tasted of mixed candy, sweat and victory. There was also a hint of citrus. Like his hair. Liesel's eyes shot open and she searched frantically for a piece of parchment. Luckily, there happened to be a notebook from school that was completely blank. And with that, she started to write.

The boy with lemon hair, a spirit that burned as bright as candle light and safe blue eyes kept to the back of her mind as she wrote her short story.

Rudy Steiner: The Aryan Saukerl.

When she finished, it was half-past-two in the early morning of a December day. Liesel sighed and got dressed for bed.

That night, no nightmares came.

Liesel Meminger was a few weeks short of fourteen.

Still no papa.

She'd completed three more reading sessions with a devestated woman. On many nights, she'd watched Rosa sit with the accordian and pray with her chin on top of her elbows.

Liesel was sad that papa wasn't back. Rosa was sad. And Rudy was sad that his papa wasn't back for his birthday, which had been a short six months ago, either. Liesel pulled on a coat. But it was very hot today, she didn't need a big heavy woolen one.

Moving swiftly out of the door, she jogged over to thirty five Himmel street, knocking gentley on the door. Kurt, Rudy's oldest brother stared back at her. It was quite weird, he looked like Rudy a lot. She stepped inside and walked quitely upstairs, greeting Frau Steiner as she walked past her in the kitchen. The older woman smiled polietly at her.

Up a short flight of stairs, down a narrow hallway, layed three bedrooms. Kurt and Rudy's was at the end of the hallway.

Liesel walked silently towards the door, tapping her knuckles against the solid oak door. She was cautious when it came to Rudy's room. Who knew what he could have been doing?

****ONE FACT ABOUT RUDY

STEINER****

On the day he had turned fourteen,

he had made a secret oath to himself that,

he would study insteed of play soccer out on the

streets of Molching. Liesel missed him. The old him.

"Hallo?" The voice was deep and so very German.

"Ich bin's. Liesel." She replied, almost shyly, opening the door before shutting it again.

The room was about the same size as Liesel's own room. Except for the fact that there were two people in this room and they were boys. Boys were messy.

Rudy set his Wissenschaft book down and patted the spot next to him. "Kommen."

She sat down next to him, slipping her shoes off and tucking her feet under herself. "Hey."

He looked down at her. "Hey."

In these moments, she wanted to kiss him. She wanted him to his her. To kiss her cheek, forehead, neck, lips, wherever she didn't care. She just wanted to feel his soft lips. But before he could his her, she pulled out her notebook and placed it on Rudy's lap. At first, Rudy eyed her skeptically before looking down at it again, reading it.

Liesel sat in silence as he read each word, savouring them. After about three-quarters of an hour later, Rudy was speechless.

-The lemon haired boy burns in my mind like a candle light, he protects me with his safe blue eyes and he loves me. And I love him for that.

He is my light in the darkness.-

"Y-you love me, Saumensch?" Rudy questioned after the silence breaked. She had written a story for hm. She had written a story about him.

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. I love you Jesse Owens. I love you. You are my light in the darkness of all this Scheisse.

"Yes. I do. I love you, Jesse Owens." Liesel said, a tear escaping her eye. He smiled and dumped his school textbooks on the floor, before pulling her onto his lap.

In Rudy Steiner's bedroom, their lips collided for the second time. Liesel smiled against his mouth and he bit her bottom lip, grating access to her mouth with his tounge. She tasted of something different this time. She tasted of her. Of books, love and victory.

Her head felt light and her heart was hammering in her chest.

Because in a way, she had always wanted a kiss from her Saukerl ever since he first asked her for a kiss.

Liesel Meminger was the thief of books.

And.

Rudy Steiner was the thief of her heart.

They both tasted like thiefs this time.

AN: This is going so slow! Im so sorry! But I have to build up their relationship more, too.

RnR! :)


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author**__**'s**__** Note:**_

_**I was really impressed with all the advice and encouragements I have gotten to continue this! **_

_**Danke!**_

_**And this is a random question, but how many of you speak German? German is my first language, and English is my second :-) **_

_**Lastly, I would like to thank my Beta, Princessa Mia. She awesome at fixing my mistakes XD**_

_**Oh and last, last, German words**__**/sentences **__**will be in italics**__**.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Die Bücherdiebin /The Book Thief/. Markus Zusak does. All the characters belong to him.**_

_**Ich hoffe, es gefällt dir!**_

_**Chapter Three**_

The next time I saw the Book Thief, she was at the side of the Teddy Bear giver.

The sky was a shade lighter than Rudy Steiners hair and the ground was littered with questions. Himmel street was clear. So was Molchimg. The air still reeked of bombs and fire blazed in the distance in Munich.

Bettina Steiner, only young of age and innocent, was the first one to see it. The blazing fire. With a grubby finger pnting forwards, her mouth formed one word softy. "Look."

Jesse Owens looked up, a moment before everyone else did. Smoke rose in a dark cloud in the near distance. His grip on the patchy red toolbox did not falter as he moved in the only way he really knew how to; he ran. He navigated his way to the Amper River, where smoke rose from the trees, which stood tall and proud.

Liesel watched with wide eyes, before passing her bag of books to Rosa who passed the bag onto a young couple. Liesel took after her idiotic friend in a wild race to the place where he had begged her for a kiss after plunging himself into the cold December waters of the Amper.

"Rudy, wait!" Liesel called.

She could see the red tool box bouncing along by its owner, whose hair stood out in the forest, through patches of trees.

Twigs scraped Liesel leg, tearing her tights and leaving cuts in her fair skin.

As they ran, following the red hue and the misty clouds of smoke, they approached a clearing in which a plane sat, creating a trail of smoke and a small fire.

Within twenty meters of the wreckage, Rudy and Liesel ground to a stop.

Trees limbs were scattered everywhere, twisting in unhealthy ways in the dark. Footsteps echoed behind them, a crowd of people gathering behind them.

"Well," Rudy's voice said, turning to Liesel, "should we take a look?"

Together, they weaved their ways through the remainder of trees, gripping each other's hands, guiding each other to me.

A portrait:

Two teenagers, one slightly taller than the other, emerged from the dark depths of the trees, hands clasped together. The girl was panting from chasing after the boy. The boy's hair looked unnatural in the browns, greens, blues and blacks of the forest.

I had just arrived at the scene of Hölle at the same time they found the pilot's pale face and uneven breathing.

Rudy had told Liesel to not come to where he had found the pale face of the pilot. But she was stubborn. She walked through the planes wreakage and stood by him.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph. He's still alive." Rudy whispered to the dark.

The glow of fire was long gone but smoke still held its place, suffocating the tall trees surrounding the clearing.

Rudy's eyes took in the English pilot. His face was a splotchy brown and a chalk white. His uniform was ruffled and his eyes were chocolate. His chest rose and fell in weird and awkward rhythms.

Liesel appeared at Jesse Owen's side in an instant.

_I __know you, _I thought_. Y__ou__'v__e grown, but I reco__gnize__ you. _

As the sky began to lighten, the lemon haired boy placed a smiling Teddy-bear onto the enemy pilots shoulder. Blood ran down the pilots face as he uttered two words in English to the boy. "**Thank you**."

"What?" Rudy asked. "_Wa hast du gesagt? _What did you say?"

The pilot soul was warm and in my arms before he could answer.

The Teddy-bear giver and the Book Thief stood in the small crowd of people that had gathered at the scene.

The both of them were excellent friends. A match made in _Himmel. _

The Teddy Bear giver and the Book Thief.

_**Authors note:**_

_**Sorry. No fluff. Next chapter will have plentey. Hopefully I can get that posted tomorrow or the next day :)**_


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